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Desalination is expensive, but it’s not just about the desalination simply pumping water up hill is costly. Nevada averages 5,500 ft above sea level. Moving 1
by Retric 3y ago
Desalination is expensive, but it’s not just about the desalination simply pumping water up hill is costly.
Nevada averages 5,500 ft above sea level. Moving 1 acre foot of water up that high at 100% efficiency takes ~5.6 MWh and a single mid sized farm can use that much water hourly.
Start talking 25 inches of water per year across millions of acres and you’ll need a lot of solar. Worse, commercial reverse osmosis desalination only removes around 95-99% of salt so that farmland is quickly getting degraded.
- blackoil 3y agoThen don't farm in Nevada?? Humans don't consume that much water and lot of it can be recycled.
- Retric 3y agoHumans generally use negligible mounts of water, the only meaningful water shortages are based around agriculture.
- ftth_finland 3y agoSo don’t do water intensive farming in Nevada?
- Retric 3y agoNevada is just an example South Dakota is only 2,200 feet above sea level, but now you need an extra long pipe causing its own issues. The point is desalination isn’t some magic fix that makes everything ok. The remaining salt is probably the biggest issue.
- lukan 3y ago"The point is desalination isn’t some magic fix that makes everything ok. The remaining salt is probably the biggest issue." No, but it is a whole lot easier close to the sea. Like most of UAEs cities are. The remaining salt, you could just pipe out in the ocean, if you go in some km towards a current and spread it out enough. Salt in the ocean is only a local problem, if it does not diffuse quickly enough. And for deserts with a high altitude or that are more inland, no, desalination is probably not the solution.
- Retric 3y agoSalt in the desalinated water not salt in the ocean.
- Log_out_ 3y agotake a black pvc pipe,stick one end into seawatter,add destillation collection crevices and overflowholes,put the other end up high on a hill
- Retric 3y agoThat doesn’t work. There’s a pressure difference across a desalinization system, it doesn’t output high pressure water.
- Log_out_ 3y agoits desalination and pumping via destillation by sunlight. it works. its basically a heat driven capillary system.
- Retric 3y ago"5,500 ft above sea level" What your talking about works on small hills near sea level, but runs into real physical limitations. It's also slow and thus vastly more expensive per acre foot than commercial systems.